Network Printer Control can be configured to automatically put an icon in the System Tray when it runs. If the System Tray is active, the tray module checks the network status every 60 seconds to see if the network has changed. If it has, then NPC will rerun the module that runs on user login. This will close any existing drive mappings and open (or reopen) ones for the new network connection. This feature helps when one moves a laptop between networks without shutting down or logging off.


To turn on putting an icon in the System Tray, select the Help menu, and click on "Display Icon in System Tray". A check should appear next to the menu item, and NPC will put an icon in the System Tray whenever it runs or whenever the NPC Console runs. To cancel automatically putting an icon in the System Tray, select the Help menu, and click on "Display Icon in System Tray" to uncheck it.


Left clicking on the icon in the System Tray launches the Network Printer Control Console. Right clicking on the icon lets the user select between exiting the icon program, and displaying an "About" box. The default is to not automatically display an icon in the System Tray as doing so does use some CPU & RAM resources, so I'd prefer people to opt-in rather than force them to opt-out.


In addition, if the System Tray is active and the "Automatically Check For Updates" menu selection is also checked, then the System Tray icon program will check for updates once per day. The check interval is once every 24 hours with the interval starting when the Tray icon program starts. This means that doing things like restarting the PC or opening the NPC Console up may restart the interval. The program uses the Windows API SetTimer function & Windows message pump so the CPU utilization is basically unaffected by this feature.


If the "Let Network Printer Controller manage printers" radio button is not selected in the NPC Console, then the NPC icon will not appear in the System Tray on login even though the "Display Icon in System Tray" menu item in the NPC Console is checked. In other words, if you don't have NPC set to run on login, then it does not run and so it never gets the chance to create the icon in the System Tray.